Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

“We are living in a dystopia, in a world that is dominated by technology and disconnect, alienation, loneliness, and dysfunction.” Steven Wilson’s quote, in many ways, aligns with the ideas portrayed in the dystopian book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Many books such as the Hunger Games and Divergent showcase a dystopian society that is drastic and thought to never exist. However, dystopian societies are not always in the form of games to the death. Ray Bradbury’s version of a dystopian society in Fahrenheit 451 is frighteningly similar to society in the 21st century, and our society is slowly turning into the dystopian world we see in books and movies. Our addiction to screens, gun violence, and many schools banning certain books that talk

They don’t think about real people and would rather live in a digital world than our actual world. People like Mildred in Fahrenheit 451 refer to the parlor as their “family.” It is shown quite a few times that Mildred cares more about the images on the screen than her actual husband. For example, when Montag claimed that he was sick and requested that Mildred turn the parlor down, she refused. “‘Will you turn the parlor off?’ he asked. ‘That’s my family.’...‘Will you turn it off for a sick man?’... ‘I’ll turn it down.’ She went out of the room and did nothing to the parlor and came back. ‘Is that better?’” (Bradbury 46). This shows that Mildred would rather have her ‘family’ on the TV at all times than turn the volume down because her husband was sick. Similarly, the average attention span of a person in our society is 8.25 seconds, and by having apps like Instagram, Youtube Shorts, and TikTok, our attention spans are estimated to be close to 5 seconds by 2030 (Bridge Care). A phone user picks up their phone around 1,500 times a week, and has an average screen time of 7 hours a day (Wyzowl). That totals to 49 hours a week on just a cell phone. Humans are addicted to screens, and it is proven by many case studies that people would rather be scrolling on TikTok or social media, than interact with people face to

The only time someone has faced consequences for their actions is by possessing a book. Towards the beginning of Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse, a girl who thinks differently from the rest of society, is run over and everyone overlooks it. No one gives a second thought about who killed her, they just move on with their lives. In the society that we live in, people can get out of jail with good behavior, a decent lawyer, and a bail amount, which results in no long-term consequences. An example of this happening in society today is the minimum amount of money that counts as theft being raised to $950. Stealing anything under that amount is not counted as theft, and is ignored. People killing each other is extremely common in the world of Fahrenheit 451. Murders happen on a daily basis, and are ignored because of their normality. Cars go 200+ miles per hour, and shootings happen often. Another example where people do not face consequences for their actions is when Clarisse talks to Montag, and she tells him that “[the children] kill each other. Six of [her] friends [had] been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. 27. The syllable of the syllable. She says that “everyone [she] know[s] is either shouting or dancing around like wild or eating up one another. Do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays? i.e. “Standardly & affluent” – “Standardly & affluent”. People are also killed